OPT Quartet meeting: New approach needed to break deadlock – Amnesty International public statement/Non-UN document

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Public Statement

AI Index: MDE 15/002/2007 (Public)
News Service No: 022
1 February 2007 

Israel – Occupied Palestinian Territories quartet meeting: new approach needed to break deadlock

At tomorrow’s meeting the Quartet members should fully reassess their approach to the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). They should not continue to subordinate fundamental human rights to political considerations, and they should put in place concrete mechanisms to ensure that all parties comply with their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law.

The continuing, marked deterioration in the OPT indicates clearly that a new approach is needed on the part of the Quartet and the political authorities in both Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), and greater leadership in addressing and resolving this decades long crisis. In the OPT, 2006 saw a three-fold increase in killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces, and the Palestinian population is experiencing unprecedented levels of poverty and food aid dependency, increased blockades and economic paralysis, and spiralling inter-Palestinian factional violence and lawlessness. The situation is dire.

Measures such as the confiscation of Palestinian tax funds by Israel and other economic sanctions, the cut in aid to the PA government from key western donors, the tightening of the blockades on the OPT, and the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and barriers on occupied Palestinian land lave resulted in increasing economic hardship and despair. Added, and related to this, has been the problem of growing inter-factional Palestinian violence. The resulting instability and insecurity have implications not just for the population in the OPT, but for the wider region and beyond.

In its efforts to break the current deadlock the Quartet should adopt an approach which is both fair and seen to be fair. It should continue to take a firm stand against human rights abuses committed by Palestinian armed groups, notably killings and other attacks against Israeli civilians, but it is crucial that it is not seen to apply different standards in dealing with the concerned parties. In a welcome development, Israeli deaths as a result of Palestinian attacks fell in 2006 to 27, their lowest number since the outbreak of the intifada six years ago – yet killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces increased threefold to more than 650, with civilians constituting half of this total. The Quartet must speak out against all unlawful killings of civilians, whether Israelis or Palestinians, and make clear to the parties on both sides that attacks on civilians are not acceptable and that those responsible for such killings must be held to account.

The history of the conflict and the repeated failure of previous peace initiatives, in which human rights were subordinated to political considerations, stand as compelling evidence that such an approach will bring neither durable peace nor security and, indeed, may further exacerbate the divisions and hamper the search for peace. A durable resolution, one which guarantees peace and security to both Israelis and Palestinians, can only be achieved if key problems which have been left to fester are addressed in a constructive manner, on the basis of respect for human rights and international law.

Respect for the fundamental human rights of both Israelis and Palestinians must be at the heart of any peace process, and members of the Quartet must ensure that violations are addressed according to the same standards irrespective of whether they are committed by Israelis or Palestinians. In the past, this has not always been the case.

While 3.5 millions of mostly young Palestinians in the OPT are poorer than ever before, and have little or no prospect of a better future, Israel continues to build unlawful settlements and barriers on occupied Palestinian land, in violation of international law and UN resolutions, and with grave consequences for the Palestinian population. In order to maintain the presence and privileged movement of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, Israel has put in place barriers and blockades which infringe the fundamental rights of the Palestinian population, including the right to freedom of movement, work, health care, education and family life.

The Quartet should call on Israel, as the occupying power, to fulfil its international obligation to ensure the welfare of the Palestinian population by, among other means, refraining from imposing sanctions which impede the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population in the OPT, dismantling Israeli settlements and those sections of the fence/wall that have been built on Palestinian land inside the West Bank, and ensuring freedom of movement within the OPT and access to the OPT.

At the same time, the growing inter-factional violence in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere in the OPT also poses an additional challenge. Rival Palestinian security forces and armed groups affiliated to both Hamas and the Fatah party of President Abbas have engaged increasingly frequently in armed clashes and have been responsible for hundreds of killings, abductions and other abuses. Civilian bystanders, including children, have often been caught in the crossfire of gun-battles between the warring factions. The Quartet should address this situation directly with the rival parties in an appropriately impartial manner and exert all possible influence and pressure on the leaders of both Hamas and Fatah to end to the killings, abductions, and other abuses and to take concrete measures to institute the rule of law in the areas within the jurisdiction of the PA.

So long as the concerned parties – Israel and the rival factions of the PA – continue to commit grave human rights violations with impunity members of the Quartet should not themselves supply weapons, munitions or other military equipment which may be used to violate human rights, and should take steps to ensure that neighbouring countries, notably Jordan and Egypt, do not supply or allow the transit through their respective countries of such weapons or military equipment. The OPT are awash with weapons and arms trade there is rife. For more than a decade armed groups have been acquiring weapons and munitions which were originally supplied to the very security forces whose task it is to stop and prevent attacks by armed groups. The proliferation of weapons in the OPT, and especially the Gaza Strip, has been a major factor fuelling the growing factional violence and lawlessness, and plans which are being currently discussed for Quartet members and neighbouring countries to supply weapons to some Palestinian factions should be shelved.

In order to ensure that the parties to the conflict adhere to their obligations the Quartet should set clear benchmarks to monitor progress and compliance by the concerned parties with its recommendations and should establish procedures and mechanisms to ensure and if necessary to enforce compliance.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International's report Road to Nowhere:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE150932006?open&of=ENG-ISR

Open Letter from the Secretary General of Amnesty International to Heads of State and Government of EU member states:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE150952006?open&of=ENG-ISR